The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1887-01-22
The Post Office,

That rotund and jolly philosopher, Ira Mel
son. who is wont to dispense chunks Of wis
dom to the delight and edhcation Of the fu
migratory assembly at Mitcbs, recently cleo
trifed his audience with the profound utter
ance that alt is worth having the itch t.
enjoy the luxury of scratching The editor
Of a certain Satanic daily Of this city it il
needlrss.to give its name evidently possess
ing the eruptive felicity referred to by the
philosophic Ira, INDUCES In gentle tttilla
ton Of his cuticle by the following scratch
There is a vigorous kick against the meth
DDS upon which the OTTAWA postotfce is be
ing conducted. The distribution Of letters
is bad. the time occupied in the work of dis
Irritation out Of all reason, the delivery win.
dow given in charge Of n boy who has hard
ly been ia the office long enough TO learn to
sweep out, who cant make change, don't
know the price of postage stamps and keeps
from 10 10 10 people waiting for the trans
action Of business AT the noon hour, while
he founders around among ma matter like
hen on hot griddle mixing change and
making mistakes that are absurd. Letters
have been " held for postage" without prop
or notification, and the whole Office appears
to be run on a cheap John " scale, without
fear or favor, perfectly oblivious to kicking
and complaining customers
The immediate provoCatiou to this bit Of
self indulgen on the part of the editor
aforesaid, was probably the fact that on the
morning of the day it appeared the outside
mail of the weekly issue of the journal in
question being sent to the post office, re
ceipt tor the postage was withheld because
the boy had failed TO take along enough pen
MES to cover it, 1t is true. however, that
on account of the withdrawal from the post.
Office force, week ago. of Mr.. Geo. Form
halls, (who has accepted position in Chica
90 at much better pay than the meagre al
lowance for clerk hire at the Ottawa post-of
fee admitted of his receiving here,) young
man. wholly without experience, had TO be
put in his place, and in his attempts. during
the first few days, to "get the hang" OF the
delivery business, no doubt he was sufficient
ly awkward and may have made some mis-
takes. The delivery window, however, Tex
Dept during an hour or Two each day when
the chief or mailing clerk takes his place.
Is regularly attended by Mr.. Tommy Farrell,
and if that service has ever been performed
at the Ottawa office by brighter, more &C.
tive and accurate, and at the same time more
courteous and obliging young man, we would
20 good way to see him. As to the COM
plant about the delivery being closed on the
arrival of the large mail at noon, it has al
ways been the custom at the office to do so
to enable all hands to assist in speedily as.
sorting and distributing the mail. In that
way it seldom takes over ten or fifteen min.
utes, unless, as was sometimes the case du
ring the past few weeks, on account of the
arrangement of the mails by the prevailing
storms, when two or three would arrive at
the same time, it took ten or fifteen minutes
longer. But we have yet to hear ola single
complaint being uttered on that account ex-
cept by the scab above referred to.